Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of unmasking schoolchildren. When the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, decided that primary school children should be masked back at the start of December, the National Parents Council was flooded with calls from concerned parents. They did not feel that they had been given enough information to understand why their children now needed to wear masks when all through the pandemic mask wearing had not been required. Perhaps since then that information has been given but certainly since then that information has changed.

It has been over a week since restrictions have been lifted and it has been so good to see so many people around the country. However, children as young as eight years are being told to keep their masks on for hours on end during the school day even as us adults are out enjoying meals and spending time in pubs. I think that it is wrong. When the whole population was unvaccinated and hospitals were bursting at the seams, parents were told that it was inappropriate for under-13-year-olds to wear face masks. Now that is where we are but out of it, we still subject children to stricter restrictions than adults.

Dr. Jeanne Noble directs the Covid response for the University of California, San Francisco emergency department. She is part of a group of physicians and scientists who have announced a national campaign in the US to restore normalcy to children's lives by putting them first in line for the lifting of mask wearing mandates and other restrictions once the Omicron surge passes. I know that the mask mandate is due to be reviewed at the end of February but I strongly believe that we should do this before that date. We can bring a smile back to our children's faces. They also need a plan for exiting the pandemic and we should allow them to get back to normal life.